


Gaskell Faces Consequences

by astralpenguin



Category: Holby City
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, probably counts as a crack fic, the reader stops gaskell killing himself so he has to deal with the consequences of his actions, there's so much else i should've been writing instead of this but here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-09-03 03:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpenguin/pseuds/astralpenguin
Summary: Never before have any of the viewers taken matters into their own hands. When you expressed how angry you were, you were told there was nothing you could do.orThe reader gets so angry that Gaskell never truly answers for his crimes that they somehow enter the show and change things so he does





	Gaskell Faces Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> i said i'd find a way to kill him myself, but after what happened i've changed my mind

When he approaches the lake, you’re waiting for him.

None of them know of your existence. As far as they know, their world is all there is. Why would they ever think otherwise?

Characters almost never realise that that’s what they are.

As a viewer, it’s supposed to be impossible for you to interfere, no matter how much you want to. You can only observe. That’s all you can ever do. No matter what happens.

There have been so many times that you wanted to step in, to put a stop to what was going on. Or speed things up, though you can admit that the characters’ romantic relationships will probably turn out fine without you.

But you’ve watched people die. Good people, who don’t deserve it.

You know Jac will be okay. She’s so important, the Gods of this world won’t let her go this easily.

Newer arrivals are never that lucky.

Or, in the case of the man you’re waiting for, unlucky.

Gaskell plans on drowning himself in the lake, and thereby avoiding the consequences of his actions. That much is crystal clear.

(Plus you found the spoilers online. The cliffhanger from the previous episode was too much for you to bear.)

Never before have any of the viewers taken matters into their own hands. When you expressed how angry you were, you were told there was nothing you could do.

And now you’re proving them wrong.

Gaskell emerges from the trees onto the dock.

You, who until now have been sitting with your legs hanging off the edge, toes just brushing the top of the water, stand.

It’s only then that he sees you.

He frowns in confusion. He wasn’t expecting to see anybody else here, after all, and for once his focus is somewhere other than on disguising his true thoughts.

“What are you doing here?” you ask, although you already know.

“It’s none of your concern,” he replies. “You should go.”

You smile, and step forwards. “We both should.”

Before he has a chance to react, you lunge towards him.

You grab his tie.

He tries to prise your hands off of him, but it’s no use. He tries to push you away, but it’s futile. He tries to get away, but he can’t.

You are a viewer, and you’re stronger than him.

For all his crimes, he is only a character.

Satisfied that you have a secure hold on him, you start to walk back towards the path through the trees. Gaskell resists at first, but soon realises that if he does that then the only thing that he’ll achieve is throttling himself.

He may have been planning on killing himself, but he had a very specific method in mind.

He reluctantly follows behind you as you lead him out of the woodland and down the roads.

You take him onto a bus. Nobody bats an eye.

They only exist because you need them too.

When you make it back to the hospital, you drag him in through the front entrance.

You throw him onto the floor.

You smile.

“Take responsibility,” you say to him.

And you vanish.

Gaskell doesn’t disappear into the lake that day.

When Hanssen is in the process of hurriedly leaving the hospital to find him, he never makes it out the door. Other than standing up, Gaskell never moved from where you left him. He is made to explain exactly what he’s done to Jac, and to everyone before her.

The others would have figured it all out on their own eventually, but his honesty speeds things up.

Once they’re completely done with him, the police take him away.

And Professor John Gaskell finally faces consequences.

**Author's Note:**

>  _obviously_ irl suicide is a very serious thing and i'm not trying to make light of that
> 
> comments and kudos always make me really really happy : D
> 
> if you like, come say hi on [tumblr](https://astralpenguin.tumblr.com/) where i very rarely post anything holby related but it does happen from time to time !!!


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